Freak mower accident claims life

Brush cutter nearly amputates legs of victim.

A San Antonio officer comforts a woman described by police as the wife of a man who was killed while apparently using a brush cutter on Monday, April 16, 2012.

Photo By JOHN DAVENPORT/SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

An old brush cutter with a circular steel blade and missing its safety guard is tipped back in a yard in the 5600 block of South Flores Street where Edmond Turgeon, 83, died.

Photo By JOHN DAVENPORT/SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

A woman, who neighbors identified as the daughter (wearing visor) of Edmond Turgeon, is consoled Monday, April 16, 2012, after the accident that killed her father.

At 83, Edmond Turgeon still took pride in maintaining multiple properties in San Antonio, regularly mowing the grass and cutting weeds.

He died Monday while trimming foliage behind a house in the 5600 block of South Flores Street when an old brush cutter without a blade guard nearly amputated both his legs, Sgt. Bobby Bradley said.

Authorities say Turgeon bled to death.

Sabrina Turgeon, the elder Turgeon's daughter, described it as a freak accident.

“He died doing what he likes to do, working,” she said. “He was always cutting the grass and working around the house.”

Neighbors said they called 911 about 9:30 when they saw smoke billowing from the property and were worried a fire would spread to their homes. Some even watered their lawns and homes to prevent flames from spreading.

“There was a lot of smoke,” neighbor Bertha Hernandez said. “We were trying to find out where the fire was, and his wife was yelling that it was him. That's when we dropped the hose.”

Turgeon's wife, whose name was not released, ran to a nearby fire station and told emergency responders that her husband was on fire, said fire department spokeswoman Deborah Foster.

Lt. Richard Barbosa said the woman was yelling hysterically in Spanish, and she was difficult to understand, even among some Spanish speakers at the station.

Crews spotted a plume of smoke and initially believed the man was trapped inside a burning building; so firefighters suited up and prepared to go in. But neighbors hailed them down and directed them to the injured man lying in a brushy area outside, Barbosa said.

Crews found the man with both legs partially amputated, Foster said.

The brush cutter shut down just as paramedics arrived and tried to resuscitate Turgeon, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

“I've been doing this for 22 years. I've seen amputations before,” Barbosa said. “They don't come often like this.”

Neighbors said the man's wife had tried to convince her husband not to use the brush cutter before Monday's accident. The machine was self-propelled with an eight horsepower engine, adjustable handlebars and a circular blade roughly two-feet wide without its safety guard.

“He was a good man,” said Hernandez, who has known the couple for decades. “He was just trying to clean his property.”

Officers tried to console the woman while she wailed in front of the home while officers placed crime tape next to the house.

Branches and weeds were stacked in front of the property, which according to the Bexar County Appraisal District was owned by Turgeon, however it was unclear whether he lived at the house or rented it out.

Sabrina Turgeon, 45, the youngest of three children, said her father had taken care of properties all his life, including several he owned on that block of South Flores.

She described him as a hardworking man who never slowed down.

He was a good dad, she said, who taught her to be tough and work hard.